


no grave can hold my body down

by caspercadaver



Category: The Magnus Archives (Podcast), 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia
Genre: Also It Comes In Later, Alternate Universe - No Quirks (My Hero Academia), Alternate Universe - Road Trip, An Explanation If You Will, Angst with a Happy Ending, Attempted Kidnapping, Bakugou Katsuki is Bad at Feelings, Body Dysphoria, Body Horror, But Oh Boy Will It Take A While, But don't worry its for the greater good, Dabi is Todoroki Touya, Don't worry he gets better, Everyone is Queer, Eye Trauma, F/F, Found Family, Gen, Hunting Eldritch Abominations, It's Not Paranoia If They're Really Out To Get You, It/Its Pronouns for Dark Shadow, M/M, Midoriya Izuku Deserves Better, Midoriya Izuku Needs A Hug, Midoriya Izuku is a Ray of Sunshine, Minor Character Death, Monsterfication, Monsters Can Have Feelings Too, Morbid humour, Non-conventional Corruption, Sensei | All For One is Midoriya Hisashi, Shinsou Hitoshi Dies, Temporary Character Death, The First Chapter Is For the Non-TMA fans, The Flesh Can Help Us With That, They/Them pronouns for Tokoyami Fumikage, This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things, Trans Male Midoriya Izuku, Trying Not To Kill Your Friends: A Guide By Bakugou Katsuki, Typical TMA Creepiness, but its also complicated, internal struggles, just please read the fic it will make sense, they have a dog, tma fans will get the complicated part
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-27
Updated: 2020-07-29
Packaged: 2021-03-04 04:20:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 9,240
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24937465
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/caspercadaver/pseuds/caspercadaver
Summary: [You don't need to know about The Magnus Archives to read this]The Entities. Various amorphous forces of fear that exist adjacent to our reality that intend on screwing everyone over. Izuku Midoriya, along with his arguably feral best friend Katsuki Bakugo and their friendly neighbourhood agent of fear and messiah of one of fourteen (maybe fifteen) fear gods Fumikage Tokoyami have been working against these powers that be since their late teens. Travelling the world, burning both cursed books and artefacts alike and disrupting rituals with the occasional explosive have placed a target on each of their backs from just about everyone who was in the know.Just about everyone, except for Toshinori Yagi, Head Archivist of The Yuuei Institute in Musutafu Japan. A formidable ally who had won their trust through saving their asses as kids with no clue what the hell they were doing. The man had an iron grip in the entity underworld, doing their jobs far more efficiently than them and getting paid for it.But in recent times the powers have shifted. Mr. Yagi has gone missing and the trio are having trouble picking up the slack. So there was only one option left: go back to Japan and find the Archivist.
Relationships: Aizawa Shouta | Eraserhead/Yamada Hizashi | Present Mic, Bakugo Katsuki & Midoriya Izuku & Tokoyami Fumikage, Bakugou Katsuki & Midoriya Izuku, Eventual Bakugou Katsuki/Kirishima Eijirou - Relationship, Eventual Midoriya Izuku/Todoroki Shouto - Relationship, Eventual Tokoyami Fumikage/Shinsou Hitoshi, Jirou Kyouka/Yaoyorozu Momo, Midoriya Izuku & Tokoyami Fumikage, Minor or Background Relationship(s)
Comments: 12
Kudos: 33





	1. The Entities and Other Terms

**Author's Note:**

> This chapter will just be for those unfamiliar with The Magnus Archives! This fic will probably be more enjoyable if you haven't listened to TMA (though I highly recommend you do), but there are the basics that I need to tell you first, otherwise you will be very confused that I'm not explaining things in the actual fic. Quite a lot of this is taken from the wiki, as it is better than me going on a lengthy rant about The End (again).
> 
> There will always be trigger warnings for the things at play at the start of every chapter, so skip to the summary at the end of every chapter if you find anything particularly worrying and the essentials will be there.

**The Entities**

The Entities are various aspects of an amorphous force of fear that exists next to reality. They are variously also referred to as gods, powers or simply as the Fears. Their influence upon reality manifests as supernatural happenings - all supernatural phenomena in the world are simply extensions of them. These phenomena can take various forms such as people, animals, monsters, books, objects, or places, all with the goal of evoking fear, terror and paranoia from all who encounter them. These entities do not simply feed off of our fear, but are our fears made manifest. It is not only human fear that counts, but that of animals as well.

“ _These things... these forces, they are our fear. Deep fears. Primordial. Always looking for ways to grow and spread._ ”  
\- Gerard Keay, MAG 111

**Manifestations**

The Entities can manifest as many different things to instil fear upon us hapless mortals. Such as animals in the case of Agape the dog, who was a diseased dog that a cult decided to worship as its new god and spread illness across the compound that soured their wine and rotted the people from the inside, all while insisting on loving each other. Then there are the artefacts, objects imbued with power, like tables or a coffin. Books are the most prevalent and powerful, as according to the occult librarian Jurgen Leitner they contain a 'purer' essence of the Entities. These appear as regular enough books in any language or genre, but can have a distinct feeling of being special or wrong, and more often than not they have an interior bookplate that reads "From The Library of Jurgen Leitner". They can have a variety of effects, most commonly it causes the reader to meet a gruesome end if read to completion.

Then there are the locations: people can slip into a form of extra-dimensional space when influenced by a Fear. These spaces do not function under regular logic and the passage of time can also be distorted, e.g. a person might experience something for 72 hours while only 24 hours have passed in the regular world. Escape can be achieved by a change in the person’s mental or emotional state or by physically exiting the manifestation. Examples of this can include the maze-like abattoir (slaughterhouse) whose only known escapee survived via killing the avatar present in the factory. 

Speaking of avatars, these are very prominent in keeping things the way they are. Some humans can become attached to an Entity and become empowered by it, gaining supernatural abilities related to their patron, but losing some or all of their humanity in the process. Humanity can be kept, if the person in question didn't choose this path and did their job without much hassle, though there are few cases of this (namely, the Archivists). Most people fall to the powers through love or fear, though it can happen for other reasons such as debt or, gasp, the consequences of their own actions. Avatars and agents of a power retain their agency but can become physically dependent on it, suffering withdrawal effects, including death, if they go too long without feeding the entity that empowers them. In many ways, it is like an addiction. 

A death is required for someone to become a fully realised avatar but it can be literal or metaphysical in nature. Fledgling avatars can still have powers but fully realised avatars are significantly more powerful. Eventually, most avatars will become unable to die or be harmed by conventional means, requiring something specific to their nature, or a Hunter, to put them down.

Then there are... Others. Aspects of the Entities that are not human in origin but possess human-like characteristics. Like vampires and the Not!Them. Others can consist of part of a human, like the Distortion and (in this case) Hizashi Yamada to create Hizashi. Sometimes they are completely inhuman monsters, like The Still And Lightless Beast and The Lichtenberg Figure.

**Rituals**

Most entities have their own ‘ritual’, a symbolic act that, if completed, will allow the entity to merge with reality, changing the fabric of the world as it exert its will and nature upon reality. These rituals have the potential to bring other closely-tied entities along with it. It requires centuries for each Entity to build up the power needed for its ritual, and if it is stopped, it cannot try again until it rebuilds that power base. Thus far, no ritual has ever succeeded.

**Smirke's List**

Robert Smirke categorised all the disparate entities into 14 main categories. Each Entity is comprised of a variety of smaller terrors, some direct, some abstract, and some tend to bleed over between one Entity and the next. Whilst fears do change and are subject to place, time and culture, it is thought that they have remained fairly stable since the industrial revolution, though an entity's power rises and falls with the world's fear of their domain. Each entity has a variety of names, though Smirke's names are generally the most commonly used. These classifications are much like colours, infinite fears that can be grouped into a few categories - each entity can be separated to some degree, but the fears bleed/feed into one another around the edges, and within each entity are different shades of the same hue. This also works to explain why some entities oppose one another, their colours ‘clash’ like red and green or blue and orange.

_“Like colours, but if colours hated me”_  
\- Jonathan Sims, Head Archivist of The Magnus Institute, London, MAG 111

_**The Buried** _

  * Also called The Center, Choke, Too Close I Cannot Breathe.
  * The fear of claustrophobia, small spaces, of being unable to breathe and the underground and dust. Being at the centre of everything and it is all pushing down. Fear of being trapped without enough space.
  * Manifests as underground places, caves, dirt, worms and coffins.
  * Its ritual is called the Sunken Sky.



_**The Corruption** _

  * Also called Filth, The Crawling Rot, The Hive
  * Feelings of disgust and feeling revulsion and fear of corruption, disease, filth. But also the incessant need for company and to be loved.
  * Manifests as mould, bugs, rot, decay, infection. The feeling of your skin crawling.
  * There is no known ritual for The Corruption as of right now.



_**The Dark** _

  * Also called Mr. Pitch, The Forever Blind
  * The primal fear of the dark, of what lies beyond that we cannot see, and the creatures hiding from our view.
  * It is said to be one of the oldest of the Entities.
  * Its only known attempt at a ritual was called "The Extinguished Sun."
  * It is one of three Entities to have a long history of followers, the Dark's being The People's Church of the Divine Host.
  * They are one of two Entities to have a messiah, theirs being Fumikage Tokoyami.



_**The Desolation** _

  * Also called The Lightless Flame, The Torturing Flame, The Devastation, The Blackened Earth.
  * Deals in fear of pain, loss and burning, of unthinking or cruel destruction.
  * Followers are enriched by destroying the lives of people who had things to live for, and destroying things before their potential is realised.
  * Its latest and only known attempt at a ritual was called "The Scoured Earth."
  * They are one of two Entities to have a messiah, theirs being Tenko Shimura .



_**The End (my personal favourite)** _

  * Also called Death, Terminus, The Coming End That Waits For All And Cannot Be Ignored.
  * This entity deals in the fear of death itself, uncaring and unstoppable.
  * No known attempts at a ritual, presumably because it sees no need to, as Death claims all in the end.



_**The Eye** _

  * Also called Beholding or The Ceaseless Watcher.
  * Fear of being watched, exposed, followed, of having secrets known, but also the drive to know and understand, even if your discoveries might destroy you.
  * Often manifests through libraries and books.
  * The ritual for the Eye is called The Watcher's Crown.



_**The Flesh** _

  * Also called Viscera.
  * Born from the fear of animals bred for meat, and in the human realisation that we are just animated meat and bones.
  * Manifests as strange bodies being twisted, reshaped, and butchered.
  * Thought to be the newest of the 14, born around the time of the Industrial Revolution.
  * The Flesh's ritual called The Last Feast.



_**The Hunt** _

  * Also Called The One That Kills You Dead (how poetic)
  * The animalistic fear of being chased or hunted, the primal fear of being prey.
  * It is less able to affect humans due to our self-removal from the food chain. Self-proclaimed monster hunters might become 'Hunters' and then having a need to hunt and kill monsters.
  * The Hunt's ritual is called The Everchase. It is suggested that the Hunt is too caught up in the chase to ever reach the end of its ritual, if it has an end at all.



_**The Lonely** _

  * Also called Forsaken, The One Alone
  * The fear of isolation, of being completely cut off and alone. Fear of being disconnected.
  * Manifests as fog, large rooms and crowds of faceless people
  * Followers of the Lonely, The Todoroki Family in this case, do not typically involve themselves with one another, so rituals are rarely planned. Enji Todoroki attempted "The Silence" by himself and failed because he didn't understand the media backlash.



_**The Slaughter** _

  * The fear of unpredictable, unmotivated violence, with fear of pain coming at sudden, random moments.
  * It manifests in many ways, often tied to imagery of war or murder, and can appear wild like a frenzied killer or calm and regimented like soldiers firing on the battlefield.
  * Its only known attempt at a ritual was called "The Risen War."



_**The Spiral** _

  * Also called Es Mentiras, It Is Lies, The Twisting Deceit, It Is Not What It Is.
  * It is the fear of madness, that your world is wrong, that your mind is lying to you. It deals with deception, lying, deceiving the mind and senses.
  * It appears with imagery of spirals, patterns and fractals, often appearing as hallucinations or illusions.
  * The Spiral's ritual is The Great Twisting.



_**The Stranger** _

  * Also called I Do Not Know You.
  * Fear of the unknown, the uncanny, the unfamiliar. The creeping sense that something isn’t right.
  * Manifests in human-adjacent forms, such as mannequins and taxidermy.
  * Its ritual is The Unknowing.



_**The Vast** _

  * Also called The Falling Titan.
  * It is the human fear of insignificance and meaninglessness, of losing yourself in too much space. Also deals with fears of heights, falling and large open spaces including deep water and space.
  * It often manifests as void, vertigo, and falling.
  * Its only known ritual was called The Awful Deep.
  * The Ururaka family, headed by Ochako Ururaka (who looks like she's 24 when shes actually 124), are not actually blood-related. They are united by their love for the Vast.



_**The Web** _

  * Also called The Spider, Mother of Puppets.
  * Deals with fear of being controlled, entrapped, being trapped and not knowing it, and your will not being your own, of being manipulated. 
  * Manifests as spiders, spider webs and web-like patterns.
  * It has never attempted a ritual, presumably because it likes the world as it is.



_**The Extinction, which may or may not exist** _

  * Also called The Terrible Change, The Future Without Us, The World Is Always Ending
  * It is a new entity hypothesised by Sasaki Mirai to be currently emerging. It is not yet confirmed to actually exist, if it is yet to be officially born, or if it is a combination of other powers and their overlap. [[17]](https://the-magnus-archives.fandom.com/wiki/The_Entities#cite_note-:1-16)
  * It deals with the fear of catastrophic change, the destruction of humanity and its replacement by something different, especially via mankind's own causing.
  * It manifests through man-made elements such as computers, code and radio, and seems to present horrifying visions of what humans could become.
  * Most avatars agree that they would like to prevent it from emerging if possible.



That is all for now, I may update the key knowledge in the future but for now, while I finish up the first chapter, this is the information I have for you. Stay safe, drink water, acab.


	2. so how many milligrams of you are still left in there?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> [relating to MAG 28: Skintight]
> 
> Midoriya, Bakugo and Tokoyami are in England because of the rumours alleging heightened activity from the Slaughter in the abandoned Cambridge Military Hospital. They receive a letter from Yagi and an old friend shares some unpleasant news. 'Ghosts' suck but the Stranger is worse and sometimes friends have your back. 
> 
> Warnings: very minor body horror, something that looks human but definitely isn't, very loose references to eating disorders and addiction, smoking and starving oneself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for updating so late, I was sitting on 500 words of this for so long and then wrote 4k in one night, so i apologise for any misspellings or general bad quality, though i think its okay. How would you guys like me to compile a playlist for this book (and maybe one for my other bnha fic as well?)

Izuku was faintly aware of the rumbling, overcast sky as he sat by the window of their rundown travel lodge. It was a slow week so far, no nearby artefacts to burn and no rituals to be seen; it was the general consensus that they would move out soon, maybe north to Scotland or, if they were desperate, America was always full of mess to clean up. It was a shame. South London had a certain... Charm about it, with the omnipresent sense of dread that leaked from every building. He grimaced, squinting at the silver laptop that lit up the dark room. Yeah, he probably wouldn't miss the place that much. Tapping his restless fingers against the rickety wooden table, he glanced at the bathroom, weak light filtering through the bottom of the off-white door.

An explosive argument had broken out half an hour before, resulting in Katsuki storming out of the building and Fumikage locking themself in the bathroom to try and calm Dark Shadow down from its anger. In hindsight he couldn't remember what it was about, as he had moved into the bedroom to avoid the confrontation. They would sort it out without him. A soft boof broke the tense silence, coming from the Irish wolfhound on the sofa, her light shaggy fur standing out in the dark of the room.

"Pep," he beckoned her closer with his hand, making quiet clicking noises to urge her forward. Pepper was their favourite animal companion, if Dark Shadow could count as an animal. She trotted over, laying down by his feet, seemingly content. The large dog was technically his, but it didn't really matter at that point. She was part of their little family and they would set Katsuki on anyone who said otherwise. Carding his fingers through the fur on her head for a few calming seconds, Izuku turned to his laptop screen.

There wasn't anything new, just the usual fake ghost sightings or ARGs (Alternate Reality Game) that thrived on the 'paranormal' part of the internet. He had taken up Fumikage's job after the argument to try and keep things moving but he had underestimated how boring it could be. Of course his friend had much more patience for this kinds of tasks. 

Stomping footsteps sounded from outside, punctuated by a familiar blond figure throwing open the door. A usual scowl tugged at his chapped lips and a familiar face littered with scars showed itself from behind a wild mane of hair. Katsuki grumbled a greeting and tossed a plastic bag full of food at Izuku before going to the bedroom to presumably sleep off his anger. Rummaging through the bag revealed a lot of pasta, some butter, dog kibble and a bag of apples. Healthy and nutritious. He sighs, dumping the bag on the table. Katsuki had the right idea; Izuku had the patience of a saint but this was getting ridiculous. 

Izuku pulled his aching limbs out of the scratchy armchair, rolling his shoulders and wrists as he made his way to their dingy shared bathroom. Disregarding the pleasantry of knocking, he pulled the door open after double checking that no, it hadn't changed to that god-awful sickly yellow again (the last time he had opened that door he ended up with six new scars from fingers that were way too sharp and the echo of a sweet, supportive, saccharine smile long ago turned sour). Keeping the door open with his hip, Izuku surveyed the scene with poorly-concealed exhaustion.

Fumikage was curled up in the grimy bathtub, swallowed by their gaudy purple and yellow sweatshirt and sweatpants. Long ago, they had taken to wearing the brightest colours imaginable to piss off the Dark. Most of the time their rejection towards their patron was understandable and sometimes a blessing. Now? Their dark cheeks were sunken and Izuku could tell that his friend's baggy clothing was a cover. Dark Shadow was curled up by their feet, not even reacting when Pepper hopped into the bathtub next to the two and tried to offer comfort where she could. Even in its intangibility it seemed weak, skeletal. Fumikage had been starving the two of them to cling onto humanity and they all knew what happened when the Dark didn't get what it wanted. 

"Fumi," he tried, his voice weak."Fumi you need to eat."

They shook their head of shaggy black hair, "'m fine Zuku don't worry about me."

Izuku shook his head and wove an arm around his friend's waist to help them stand, "Starving yourself will make it faster Fumi, we can send Dark out to that abusive father's home we've been looking at, you know the one. And you won't have to hurt anyone who doesn't deserve it. The kids would be safe, if not scared shitless." He helped them stumble out of the bathtub, the ever incorporeal Dark Shadow winding itself around Fumikage's waist like a shield. Or maybe it was just too weak to stand. 

When the suggestion left his chapped lips the former Still and Lightless Beast made a sound halfway between a growl and a whine, looking up at it's 'master'. Fumikage bit their lip, nodding their head once and Dark Shadow was off in a flash of something darker than darkness. If one had to describe it to someone who had never witnessed such a thing, the closest comparison would be the paint known as black 3.0, though it was darker still. 

Izuku helped Fumikage to their bed, mouldy green eyes registering a lump on the bed nearest to the door. The blond had a habit of curling himself into a tight ball when he slept, which did nothing but hurt his back. A dull pain settled in his ribs and the greenet realised with a muted horror that he had over worn his binder. Again. Katsuki was going to beat his ass if he found out. Which, if the man was actually asleep, he wouldn't. Fumi wouldn't snitch on him like that.

Stretching his body in ways he didn't even know he was capable of, Izuku finally tore his binder off. Fumi had curled up on the furthest bed facing the wall, so he didn't feel exposed or anything. Besides, they'd all known each other since they were all fourteen, they'd all witnessed each others most embarrassing moments. Throwing himself onto the stiff, cheap, off-white mattress, Izuku latched onto the uncomfortable blankets like a limpet and the torrential rain lulled him to sleep.

__________

Waking up in the Bakugo-Midoriya-Tokoyami household was never a fun affair. Despite popular belief, Fumikage would always wake up first; though they stayed in bed and 'contemplated life' until five AM rolled around and Dark Shadow would return from wherever it had ventured during the night and they would then brush their teeth and lay back down. Katsuki would be next, jolting up with sweat running down his neck and a heartbeat as fast as prey running for their life. Nightmares were never kind to him. His morning routine was simple, brush his teeth, have a shower and then mercilessly attack Izuku with a pillow until the shorter man 'got his useless ass out of bed'.

"Rise and shine or whatever the fuck they say, dumbass!" Katsuki woke his friend up with, Fumikage covering his ears and hoping their neighbours were early risers/ had a sense of humour."We're going to commit arson today, so up and attem fuckhead!"

Izuku groaned, his body used to being assaulted by pillows at six in the goddamn morning but his mind was still slow. So he did the next best thing his sleep-addled brain could think of: fling himself out of bed and tackle his attacker to the floor. 

Both of them fell onto the rough carpeted floor, Izuku collapsed on top of the older boy and promptly fell back asleep. His friend ran hotter than normal humans, so he was perfect for a nap to his sleepy brain. Katsuki, instead of just letting his friend get some well deserved rest, flipped the other boy off of him and jumped to his feet, brushing off imaginary dust. Flipping Izuku off, he left the room, a dark shape that may have been Fumikage and Dark Shadow following him.

Dumbly, he just laid there and stared at the suspiciously stained ceiling. Mornings weren't exactly the time for comprehensive thought for Izuku, so he had to rely on Pepper licking his face (gross) to wake him up. Chuckling and muttering a quiet 'thanks girl', Izuku was ready to face the day. Just as soon as he put his binder on. After double checking that Fumikage had indeed left the room as he had suspected, he took a deep breath and did some complex gymnastics to get back into the top. 

Walking into the kitchen/living room/dining room, Izuku calmly brought three chipped bowls and a box of off-brand cornflakes, accompanied by just-in-date milk and a spoon for each of them, he started making their breakfasts. Fumikage was tapping away on their laptop and looked less sunken as they had the night before. A welcome sight. Katsuki had likely stepped outside to smoke, a nasty habit but he relied on it to keep him human and potential lung cancer was deemed marginally better than turning into a hunt-crazed beast. Once the man had finished up outside, they would have a talk about the argument last night. Something Izuku wasn't looking forward to.

Because yes, he loved his friends with all his heart and would probably die without them, but the Hunt never got along with avatars and Fumikage despite not choosing this path, was an avatar. Conflict was natural. Conflict could also get them killed. 

With a careful hand, Izuku filled Pepper's food and water bowls. Handing his gothic friend a bowl of now-chewy cornflakes, placing another at the empty chair, he started to dig in. Whatever benevolent gods that were out there knew he would need his strength for this. Creaking notified Izuku that the balcony door was opening once more, so he looked up at his heavily scarred friend.

"Kacchan," said young man made a 'tch' noise, knowing where this was headed."Fumi." They looked up from their laptop."What the _fuck_ happened last night?"

"Izu, look," Katsuki began, shovelling cereal into his mouth in the pause."I fucked up. I can admit that. I said shit I shouldn't have said and we both got mad." He looked at their friend, who was staring at him with wide eyes."Fumi I'm fucking sorry, alright? I shouldn't have said that shit to you and you refused to hunt because of that."

"Th-" Fumikage looked shocked, but quickly gathered themself."Thank you Katsuki. Apology accepted." 

"Well, that sorted itself out faster than I expected," Izuku admitted, then smiled."I'm happy it turned out alright." He then turned to Fumikage."Do we have any updates on nearby activity?"

The black haired young person nodded,"Just give me half an hour or so. There's a 'ghost hunter'." They made air quotations at that."Group that needs someone to work the cameras when they go to Cambridge Military Hospital in two days, few of their members got cold feet and they already have a replacement for their sound guy. There has been some accounts of Slaughter activity, we need to see if the stories are true and if so, is its presence overwhelmingly dangerous to humans."

"And if it is?" Katsuki smirked."Do I get to burn it down for once? I've always hated the Slaughter, its basically just the Hunt but with guns. Coward shit. I've been looking for a reason to show them who's boss."

Fumikage muttered something about the Desolation and shook their head."No, its being demolished soon. There is asbestos in the walls and I would rather you didn't cause that much damage. Besides, this is mainly just for documenting, our designated braincell is probably our best fit."

Izuku spit out the remaining milk he was drinking from his bowl.

"I'm sorry, _what?"_

Katsuki 'tch'ed,"Sure I'll give ya that one."

Izuku sputtered out incomprehensible excuses, but Fumikage covered his mouth with their hand."One, Katsuki is too violent and would not only pick fights with the Slaughter, but with the other crew members. Two, I am an avatar, the Slaughter doesn't like other entities encroaching on their territory. Three, you've only been touched by entities so far. This makes it safer for you to be there instead of either of us." Izuku licked his hand, coaxing a quiet 'ew' and his mouth was released.

"H-how did you even manage to get them to accept me in that position?" he fretted."I've never worked with an outside group, or with a professional camera, or even been in a video before!" 

"Oi nerd," Katsuki bumped his shoulder, picking up the discarded bowls and rinsing them in the sink."Don't overthink it. You record our hunts all the time, Fumi probably got the camera footage and portrayed it as a student film or somethin'. It doesn't matter what they think of you either, at the end of the day they're all just ignorant to what a fucked up place our planet is and we'll never seem 'em again."

Izuku sighed, calming down somewhat. Katsuki, as per usual, was the more logical one when it came to him panicking. That may stem from the fact that he's never actually seen Katsuki panicked. Yeah, he's been worried and yeah he's been angry, but never panicked. 

Fumikage lowered their head and apologised, but Izuku waved it off. They usually made the right call when it came to this sort of thing, and with Katsuki's interjection his nerves had calmed significantly. Two days. Two days until his first proper solo mission. It was a general, unspoken rule that Izuku wasn't to be on his own very often, because thoughts can be dangerous when one is 'in the know' and Izuku has a lot of thoughts. 

Thoughts of running, quick heartbeats, supportive smiles _coldhandswarmhandswaytoolonghandsohgodohgodwhydoesmr.yamadalooklikethat-_

A somewhat tangible shadow rested at the back of his neck, a low rumbling-like purr reminiscent of ~~mr.Aizawa's~~ stray cats that he sees on the street sometimes. Dark Shadow always knew to ground him when he slipped back into old memories. Old memories of how things were when they were kids, how things were in Japan and that god-awful U.A Institute that he swore to an old mentor never to return to. Izuku may be sneaky, prone to lying to get out of tough situations, but he's never gone back on a promise. And when a putrid yellow door sits quietly next to the entrance when they all decided to go out on a walk, he doesn't look twice because it didn't do him well to dwell on old memories. 

____________

Two days had passed since Fumikage had gotten him a job, and Izuku is freaking out on the inside. From his own research, Ghost Hunt UK (the channel he was going to be working with) was a large one. A few million was, to him at least, a few million two many. It would be fine, though, Fumi had reassured him. He would only be holding the camera, not actually being on camera. Threading his fingers through Pepper's fur, he allowed himself to relax a bit. The host, Kyoka Jiro, had been ecstatic when he asked if he could bring the wolfhound. Apparently dogs could pick up on ghosts, so she would be welcome to join them. Pepper barked at hostile avatars and general manifestations too, so they could both bullshit their way through it. 

Katsuki barged his way through the door, looking at Izuku sitting on the floor. With a heavy sigh and an unintelligible grumble, he tugs him up and begins to drag him out of the bedroom, eyes fixated on the door. Ah. He could probably sense someone approaching, good on Katsuki for giving him a minute or so to prepare.

"Listen," Katsuki grumbled."I can smell an avatar of the Stranger in their group- be careful, I don't want to drag your corpse back here."

A barely suppressed shiver ran down his spine. The Stranger, one of his middle to least favourite entities. As a kid, he had been locked in a clothes shop overnight because his mother had forgotten him again with only mannequins for company, leading to a long lasting wariness of the plastic almost-humans. He couldn't afford for that to grow into fear, being afraid was dangerous in his line of work. So, wariness it shall remain.

"One like Toga or a lesser rank?"

"Probably just had it's skin taken and is a mannequin masquerading as a human through that. You remember the disappearances up on Old Fishmarket Close?" Fumikage interjected, not even deigning to look up from their work.

"I have no clue what the fuck you're on about." 

"Uh, same here. Where's that?"

Fumikage's eyebrows scrunch up and then relax as they sigh,"You know what? Never mind. Toga is an acolyte, our strange friend here is merely an aspect. As long as you don't mess with her, you should be okay. Just keep an eye out."

A polite knock sounded thrice, Pepper jumping to attention and barking while she did.

"Right, well," Izuku tried to mask his nerves with a smile."Wish me luck?"

Katsuki snorted,"Good luck nerd. You won't need it, mannequins are weak. Probably."

And with that, his childhood friend shoved him out of his door and into a punk-looking lady with purple hair and headphones around her neck. While he stammered out an apology, she waved him off with an awkward smile.

"It's all good, I'm just glad you answered when I knocked."

"Uhm, yeah, why wouldn't I?" It seemed like an awkward thing to point out.

Her posture became more tense, shoulders hunched in more annoyance than fear,"Our other replacement, on sound? Her name is Tokage. She made us wait half an hour for her and she smokes in the van."

Izuku nodded, then followed Jiro wordlessly to the van, where he met their resident Stranger avatar. Being completely honest he hadn't the faintest clue as to why she had been roped into this job. Weren't those of her creed delegated to corpse-theft and scaring little kids in clown costumes? Taking a look at the girl with moss coloured hair, who stared back with dead eyes, he decided he didn't want to know.

A very awkward car ride to the military hospital later, he already knew why Ghost Hunt UK was as big as it was. Jiro had a good sense of humour, trying to keep both him and her cohost Reiko Yanagi entertained, though picking up on Tokage's vibes and leaving her out of it. Yanagi was quiet and seemed emotionless and first, but when she added her own little quips it was comedy gold and it was all he could do to smother his laughter out of politeness. They'd discussed how they would frame the video; sympathetic towards those who had lost their lives and towards the 'Grey Ladies' that they were trying to capture evidence of, or how creepy the whole place looked and paint it as more of a horror video. No points for guessing who preferred which method, but Izuku eventually made them agree on doing double shots on some places with different lighting for when they edit it later.

The two hours passed relatively quickly, which Izuku was thankful for. 

When they finally, _finally_ reached the hospital, Tokage's corpse like eyes narrowed at Kyoka, who was helping him haul the equipment out of the van. Jiro placed one of the boxes of lighting equipment and was dusting her palms off, about to make a pun about how 'for lighting equipment it sure isn't light!' or something like that. Izuku wouldn't know, because she was dragged away by Tokage. He only heard a few words about her not telling her about something, but Jiro seemed confused so she would probably be safe for now. If not, Izuku always carried a knife with him in case of emergencies. 

All in all, the shoot passed fairly quickly. Half way through it was agreed that they would just shoot for the horror aspect, especially when they found some fairly odd graffiti. Namely, the phrase 'silk will not stitch the butcher's meat'. Pepper had barked around this area, so that was an omen in the two clueless members of the party's view. 

They set up camp in the main ward, with them experiencing no outwardly Slaughter activities. Come nightfall, however, Izuku reckoned it would be a different story. He was taking the 10-12 shift. Jiro took 12-2 and Tokage took 2-4. Right when the 'paranormal activity' would be due. A good amount of sleep would be instrumental in keeping Jiro and Yanagi safe from whatever Tokage was going to be up to, so he had made sure to take the earliest shift. After three hours of fitful sleep, he awoke at three in the morning to a notable chill in the air.

Jiro had noticed it too, it seemed, as she was standing by Tokage's sleeping bag. Where Tokage was not either keeping watch or sleeping. Pepper would keep Yanagi safe, he told himself, before following Jiro's footsteps as she walked off towards the stairs, a strong night vision camera in her hands.

A strong, pungent smell of copper with a hint of ammonia had flooded the abandoned hospital, along with the sound of pleading. Tokage's voice.

"Unintended... Trespass... Sorry..." Most of the words were unintelligible with the speed she was speaking and gesticulating. She was on her own in the room, at least that was what the camera showed. Izuku knew better though, as he stood by Jiro's shoulder and gently pulling her back. He gained a full-body flinch for his efforts but she didn't make a sound. 

With no warning, Tokage was flung across the room by the unseen force. She shouted something in a language Izuku didn't understand, proceeding to peel back the skin from her left arm which hung strangely. He wasn't used to Strangers showing such human emotion. She then pulled the skin back and stapled it back on again. Before they could witness anything else, he linked elbows with Jiro and sprinted back to the main ward, with a silent agreement not to talk about it. 

There was a pressing atmosphere when they packed up and went home that following morning. Tokage likely knew that they had seen her, maybe she was waiting for them to say something about it, maybe she was hoping to just get out of there as soon as possible. Gods knew Izuku felt the same about that. All in all, he decided the presence there wasn't a threat to humans. The three of them were totally unharmed after all. That was somewhat of a relief, that meant the construction workers could easily tear the building down like what was planned. 

He left Jiro his number in case anything like that happened again. He didn't know if she was marked by either entity, but it was better safe than sorry. Better safe than another life cut short because he hadn't been careful.

The building felt cold when he walked into the foyer and up to their travel lodge room, which brought a smile to his lips. This particular brand of cold could only be the result of one person.

When Izuku opened the door, he was greeted by the sight of one Hitoshi Shinso drinking soup out of Fumikage's 'Big Bird' mug and sitting on their floor. 

"Oh thank fuck," Katsuki breathed out from his position upside down on the scratchy sofa."Give us a mission report later, eggplant over here said he would only tell us whats up when you get here. Fucking cryptic fuckhead."

"Creative," Hitoshi said drily, blowing on the soup."You kiss your boyfriend with that mouth?"

"I am going to kill you."

"Unless you want a fully-fledged End avatar in here with you, I highly advise you do not do that."

"Thanks Fumi."

Izuku waved his hands around, then unattached Pepper's lead from her collar, allowing her to bound over to Hitoshi who gave her a treat out of his pocket.

"Guys! Please!" he turns to Hitoshi."Hitoshi, I'm here now, whats gone wrong?"

"Well I can now see causes of death when I'm awake. Where people have died and people who are going to die in the next ten days have their cause of death practically wrapped around them." Izuku now understood why he was so sickly pale and looked so exhausted.

"That's... Not good." A useful comment by Fumikage.

"Yeah no shit!" 

Hitoshi had previously only been able to see causes of deaths in his dreams, and then it was only a day before their deaths. This, in the wise words of Fumikage Tokoyami, wasn't good. The closer he got to unlocking all of his abilities, the closer he was to becoming a full avatar of the End. Out of all fourteen though, the End wasn't too bad all of them considered. Only problem was that he would have to die to fully transform.

"Yeah, thats why I'm moving to Iceland. Less people, lovely scenery, less horrific deaths." The 'less seeing the deaths of people I care about' was unspoken. "Please." Hitoshi paused, looking pained."Please don't come after me."

His eyes flittered around everyone, lingering on Katsuki who looked at him with both thinly veiled shock and understanding.

"Sasaki gave me this to give to you," he adds, pulling a beige envelope out of his backpack that sat next to him on the floor."Says its from Mr. Yagi, about some new discovery? The jist of it was that he wants you guys at the U.A Institute ASAP, according to Sasaki he was actually panicked."

"I," Izuku started as he took the envelope."Thank you, Hito." Pulling him into a hug, he only then realised how thin his friend was. 

Hitoshi nodded and slipped out the door, giving Pepper one last head pat as she whined about him leaving so soon.

"I guess we're going back to Japan."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> JURGEN LEITNER?
> 
> STUPID IDIOT MOTHERFUCKING JURGEN LEITNER GOD DAMN FOOL BOOK COLLECTING DUST EATING RAT OLD BASTARD SHITHEAD IDIOT AVATAR OF THE WHORE BIGGEST CLOWN IN THE CIRCUS LAUGHED OUT OF TOWN COWBOY MOTHERFUCKING JURGEN LEITNER Hello Jon. Apologies for the deception, but I wanted to make sure you started reading, so I thought it best not to announce myself. I’m assuming you’re alone; you always did prefer to read your statements in private.
> 
> tma fans im so sorry i had to eliasroll you like that, y'all also know the deal with 'mr. yamada' and his long hands *cough* fuckhands mcmike *cough*. theres a few hints to canon stuff in here, but if you aren't into tma it all cool, it doesn't really effect your reading. or it shouldn't, at least. if it does just let me know!!
> 
> Friendly Reminder That Kudos and Comments Are Very Much Welcomed And Appreciated!!!!!!
> 
> have a good day my fellow human beings x


	3. home is where the heart is, you're homeless but you're heartless

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The crew leaves for Japan, Izuku breaks his first promise and Hatsume is clueless. 
> 
> I'd like to mention that in this au, Yagi is in his sixties and he has been in the business for the better part of four decades. He has given up many things for the sake of the world and he is getting sentimental in his old age. This doesn't mean he truly regrets it, though. Both he and his tma counterpart that he is heavily based off of Gertrude Robinson are complex characters, and I hope to do them justice in this fic as a whole (though you probably won't get to see much of Yagi).
> 
> Yagi is on the darker grey side of the morality scale, he has a strong 'the ends justify the means' mindset and its gotten more than a few people killed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> alright folks, the trigger/ content warnings! from the looks of it this will be a medium to heavy chapter: referenced character death, (very mild) implied child death, very very mild addiction (not to substances, you'll see), a light dose of paranoia and sense of being watched, bodily harm, burning flesh described in a little detail.

Yagi-san was like an uncle to Izuku. That was why it hurt so much when he had asked him not to come back to Japan, and especially not the Institute, but he _understood_. At least that was what he told himself as he hesitantly turned over the off white letter in his hands. It may have seemed odd, on the outside looking in, as to why Izuku agreed to return to somewhere that had hurt him so much. But Yagi-san was there when his father was off running the Institute and he had saved him from innumerous gruesome ends at the hands (or claws) of eldritch abominations. If the man wanted him to visit, breaking his promise, he would do so in a heartbeat.

Breaking the wax seal with a chewed nail, Izuku began to read the near-illegible script. His mentor never had the best handwriting, and he'd gotten worse over the years. Age did that to such a person.

_To Young Midoriya Izuku,_

_I hope this letter finds you in good health, but I regret to inform you that our agreement must be broken, though trust that I do so for a good reason. Last time we saw each other, I mentioned a theory of Mirai's that I thought was implausible at the time. We both know that sometimes I can be wrong on occasion, which is applicable in this case. He thought that there was a reason why rituals always failed and explained to me in great detail his reasoning behind such a, at the time, wild theory. Recently, I have stumbled across something that has caused me to re-think my stance and I would like you, Young Bakugo and Young Tokoyami to examine this with me. I cannot explain to you why, or go into any further depth. You of all people know how many wandering eyes there are in the Institute and I am afraid that explaining any further will cause unnecessary harm. Not to you, of course, but I have been walking a thin tightrope when it comes to Nezu and I wish not to provoke him further._

_I have sent letters out to my former associates, though there are less and less with us nowadays. Sometimes I wish I could take back my sacrifices, but it doesn't do good to dwell on such thoughts. I hope you have been following my advice, my boy, because these days it has been getting harder for me to do so myself._

_Young Aizawa is also getting a letter from me, though I doubt he would be so quick to answer my summons. I'm afraid I have caused him great misfortune over the years, so if he doesn't come, I hope it isn't too great of a burden for you to find him. I would like to apologise but he won't listen to me, there is a higher chance he would listen to you._

_Another thing, I have a clue as to what happened to your father. Midoriya Hisashi was a great Head of the Institute, and you know I've been looking into what happened to him for going on five years. This is something you will want to know. Again, I apologise for not being able to tell you exactly what I've found, but this may be more dangerous than anything else I have to say. Please meet me by the Institute steps at 9 a.m on the 15th of March._ Izuku mentally checked the date, March 12th. Three days.

_I have left something else in the envelope for you, if you still need them._

Izuku didn't need to check what the other contents of the letter were. He already knew. Whether it was a knew or a Knew, he didn't know. The other piece of paper was a statement, likely one of the certifiable real accounts given to the Institute by whatever compelling fuckery the Beholding had over the victims of other Entities. in Katsuki's words: the Eye is such a weak ass entity it nabs fear from the others because being watched is such a fucking pussy thing to be scared of. 

Calloused fingers gingerly drew out the statement, a person's most traumatic experience laid out in century gothic font. Statement of Ishiyama Ken, regarding an incident where his entire family buried themselves in cement in Yamagata Prefecture. Original statement given March 22nd 2002. A cold sweat gathered at the back of his neck and Izuku trembled. It had taken him four years to properly get himself off of the statements sent to him by first his father, then Nezu-san. And then he burned them as a parting 'fuck off' to his former entity. It was better to distance himself than what everyone else did when they wanted to escape, which was to take their own eyes out. It was kind of odd how Beholding let him go so easily, but it was foolish to look a gift horse in the mouth so he didn't question it. Asking questions was dangerous in his profession, after all. 

So with a practised routine, he brandished his lighter and held the papers over the sink, taking a small amount of vindication from the action. A slight tingle at the base of his skull was all he got for his retaliation, when in previous years he would be hit with a pounding migraine. A niggling thought popped into his mind, that the Eye was used to his actions by now and would finally leave him alone completely. Wishful thinking of course, but a jaded twenty something year old could dream. 

Smouldering ashes were washed away by cold water, Izuku looked at the absence with heavy eye bags and a heavy mind. It was the morning after they had gotten the visit from Hitoshi and he had barely slept a wink all night. If he kept this up he would end up looking like his insomniac friend. Thinking of the walking skeleton, he looked towards Fumikage, tapping away on their banged up laptop. Presumably they were ordering tickets to Japan.

Katsuki was walking Pepper, they would have to do some mind games to bring her with them but they would manage. They also had all of their equipment to get through and onto the plane. On second thoughts, maybe Izuku shouldn't have burned that statement. Otherwise the people checking baggage were certainly going to be noticing things he wished they wouldn't. Sighing, he shuffled onto the cramped balcony for a bit of fresh air, knowing he would be getting on a 2 hour bus ride to visit one person he could barely stand in just a few minutes. 

Slumping into the wobbly plastic chair, Izuku recalled the last time he had interacted with Hatsume Mei. The Inventor. No one knew how she managed to create so many artefacts for so many different entities and not know anything about them. She also had a number of other artefacts that came from who knows where in her possession. But the young woman nearly never sold outside of England, so getting his hands on an artefact to throw in Yuuei's artefact storage probably wouldn't hurt his relationship with his fear god from birth (or, well, childhood because he wasn't born part of the Eye). She was also batshit crazy.

"Hey."

Fumikage stood at the doorway, fumbling with the sleeves of their hot pink and lime green plaid sweater, shifting from side to side slightly, Dark Shadow winding around their ankles, trying to trip them up like a cat,"Your bus is coming soon."

Izuku grumbled a half intelligible,"Thanks," and tried for a smile, pulling them into a one-armed hug, which was easily reciprocated. He didn't often get into one of his 'moods' but when he was his friends gave him space. He would always appreciate them for that.

Grabbing a ratty yellow backpack from the table with a worn, suspiciously leather pouch inside, a notebook and presumably enough money to buy one of the most destructive artefacts Hatsume had in her collection at that time, he stumbled out of the door and to the bus stop stationed right outside their Travel Lodge. 

A few minutes rolled by as he stared at the overcast sky, leaning against a flickering streetlight. Unsurprisingly, there weren't many people about, other than a grumpy looking teenager with an ambiguous gender identity and ratty red hair that leaned against the wall by the bus stop. When the bus slowed to a stop, Izuku fumbled a little to get his money out and quickly paid the bus driver without making eye contact. Situating himself at the far back, he let himself droop into his seat like a wilting flower. The teenager hadn't got on and it seemed like he had the bus mostly to himself for the whole ride, bar a kind-looking elderly man in the front and a younger man around his age, maybe slightly older with shoulder-length white hair and he dressed like the older man next to him, having a quiet conversation.

The white haired man looked up at him when he had passed, slightly shocked but gave him a smile nonetheless, a melancholic look in his eye. Maybe he was like Hitoshi and knew the man would die soon and wanted him to have a pleasant memory before he died. Ultimately, he left it alone and spent his bus ride playing mindless offline games to distract himself from the fact that the white haired man had seemingly disappeared without even getting off the bus and the old man may have fallen asleep or may have actually died. Honestly, it wasn't his job and if he was dead that was how it was going to be. Old age is a blessing to die from in his line of work.

It was drizzling when he got off the now empty bus, facing a small grey building with a tacky neon pink sign declaring 'Hatsume Industries!' with tinted windows and a heavy-looking steel door. With a sigh, he pushed the door open and was greeted with a sharp ringing bell to announce his presence.

The shop level of Hatsume's building wasn't much to look at. A few plastic chairs to sit and wait on, a chipped dark desk with an old computer which Izuku was fairly sure was just for appearances, as Hatsume could definitely afford a better computer. Hell, she could even build a better computer. A shriek echoed from down the stairs to his left, where Hatsume made her 'babies'. It was a miracle she hadn't died yet.

"Wait just a second!" The young woman yelled up at him and Izuku had to hold back a flinch at the glee in her voice. She could probably smell it was him already. She had a nose like a bloodhound, Katsuki had sworn the first time they met when she had called him a mutt."Or maybe a minute?"

Izuku had resigned himself to having his back rearranged by the uncomfortable chair he had sat in for ten minutes by the time she had ran up the stairs to see him. 

"Greenie! How've ya been?" The pinkette had swept her dreads into a ponytail out of her face to display a truly crazy grin.

"Hatsume," he nodded with all the politeness he could muster, ignoring both the question and the 'just call me Mei!'."I'm just here for one of the things you've found. Please don't make me use the fire extinguisher again."

She laughed it off, spinning on one foot and beckoning him down the stairs to follow her."As long as ya got the goods I'll let ya take a gander about." Sometimes Izuku wondered why she spoke like that. Then he remembered she had moved to England when she was an infant and then it all made sense.

"Why do you always have to make things sound so shady? I have roughly £200 for you, what will that get me?" He coughed at the awful scent coming from one of the rooms they passed. It was meaty and like something was on the brink of death."Not one of your newer inventions either. Actually can you just get me something you haven't made?" He trusted the mystical artefacts more than the Hatsume ™ artefacts.

Hatsume seemed unaffected by the jab and dragged him by the sleeve to a door that felt just a shade too yellow for his liking and brought him inside,"You can find somethin' for your price range in here, just leave your money at the desk!" She knew he would. Gods hath no fury like a Hatsume unpaid.

Wanting to get out of there as quickly as possible, he scanned through the items and never dared to touch a single one. A divers helmet caught his eye, but he was more drawn to a cheap looking handheld maze that looked like it came straight from a McDonald's happy meal. The fact that he was being drawn to it was probably a bad thing, as he scanned the very edges of the toy and not daring to look in any further detail. A Spiral artefact if he ever saw one. He knew what this was, it had caused quite the upset towards the Spiral for what it was. It targeted children, an impossible maze that causes the real world around it's victim to turn into something akin to the impossible hallways of the Distortion, or Hizashi Yamada as it was now called. And god didn't it hurt to see anything that reminded him of someone whom he thought of as an uncle. Izuku had never truly fully forgiven Yagi for what happened to him.

He quickly shimmied the children's toy into the leather pouch they had specifically for these occasions, trying to touch it as little as possible, as it was for more blatant reality benders. The general community wasn't so upset with the targeting children (such casualties happened in this world), just with how much it permanently changed reality. It was one of the few artefacts that could do so and it threatened the other avatars and to a lesser extent, the entities. 

Izuku didn't want to spend any further time in the oppressive air that suffocated the basement level, so he deposited a notebook with the money when he left. Inside the notebook was an explanation of what she was unknowingly dealing with, steps she could take to prevent death and how to contact him if she was in trouble. A parting gift to someone who both helped him out so much and also terrified him. 

_____________

Izuku hated airports. Way too many people for his liking, long and dreadful flights (a 14 hour one in front of him for example) and Pepper had to be sent onto the plane ahead of them. No one had bothered them thus far, his unsaid promise to deliver the artefact to the Institute may have contributed to that fact, but he was still on edge. It felt like someone was watching him. Not Watching him like Beholding often did, but lower case. Stalking. Fumikage seemed unaffected, dragging both their own on board luggage and Izuku's with minimal effort. Katsuki seemed a little bit on edge, side-eyeing everyone who got anywhere close to them and muttering about a 'flame bastard' under his breath. 

Splitting off to get something small to eat, leaving his friends at a group of chairs to await their own snacks, he spotted what had been causing his paranoia. Well, not exactly a what, more of a who really. A dark haired man with what could have been a conventionally pretty face under all of that scarring and staples, clad in a long dark trench coat. Accompanying him was a pale haired, exhausted looking young man of a similar age who had his hands raised as if to placate the taller man. Izuku tries to ignore the glare levelled his way by the guard dog of the Cult Of The Lightless Flame and Shimura Tenko, their failed messiah. Failed because Yagi-san had bound himself and the younger avatar in a ritual to dampen both of their powers. Izuku was honestly sort of shocked to see him alive and relatively unharmed.

The taller man approached him and Izuku wondered if it was too late to become an avatar of the Vast and be allowed to make people go creative mode when he was caught by the wrist.

Biting down on his cheek, Izuku tried to muffle his sounds of pain. The sizzling sound and acrid scent of burning flesh reached him and it took all he had not to gag. Shimura had stayed behind to stare at him, contemplative. Shimura had stayed behind and was watching his companion burn a hand print into Izuku's wrist. Lovely folks.

"Well if it isn't Beholding's...?" he grimaced, staples pulling at the burned skin, trying to find the word at the tip of his tongue, "Whatever. We all thought you flew the nest for good."

Izuku _really_ hated airports.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> my tumblr, for extra! fic content and your questions answered!: caspercadaver.tumblr.com/
> 
> also if you're into tma and are up to date don't talk to me about elias bouchard Do Not spoil it for those who aren't familiar with tma please please im begging you <33333


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